How Long Does Texas Have to Indict You? 180-Day Rule and Limits

Texas runs two separate clocks on criminal charges, and the answer to how long Texas has to indict you depends on which one applies to your situation. If you have already been arrested or posted bail, prosecutors generally must present an indictment by the later of two dates: 180 days from your commitment or bail, or the last day of the next court term.¹ If no arrest has happened yet, the only clock is the statute of limitations for the specific offense, which ranges from two years for most misdemeanors to no limit at all for murder and several other serious crimes.² Both clocks matter, and they work independently.

The 180-Day Deadline After Arrest

This is the deadline most people are asking about when they’ve been arrested and are waiting to see what the state will do. Once you have been committed to jail or released on bail, prosecutors have until the later of the last day of the next court term or 180 days from that date to present an indictment or information.¹ Miss both, and you or your attorney can file a motion to have the charges dismissed and your bail discharged.

The deadline is not absolute. A court can override it for “good cause” supported by an affidavit, which is how prosecutors buy time in complex cases. And a dismissal under this rule is not permanent. The state can bring a new case as long as the overall statute of limitations has not run. That is the common trap: winning a 180-day motion feels final, but the charges can come back.

The Stronger Protection: Speedy-Trial Dismissal

A different kind of dismissal does bar re-prosecution. When a court finds the state violated your constitutional right to a speedy trial and grants a motion to dismiss, that discharge permanently blocks further prosecution for the same offense and for any other offense arising out of the same incident.³ The one carve-out is a higher-grade offense that a different prosecutor has primary responsibility over. A speedy-trial dismissal is harder to win than a 180-day motion, but if you get one, the case is truly over.

How Long the State Has by Type of Offense

The statute of limitations is the broader clock. It starts when the crime is committed and runs regardless of whether anyone has been arrested. Texas sorts felonies into tiers by severity.

No Time Limit

Prosecutors can file charges at any time for the most serious offenses.² These include:

Murder and manslaughter
Sexual assault of a child and aggravated sexual assault of a child
Continuous sexual abuse of a young child or disabled individual
Indecency with a child
Human trafficking and continuous trafficking of persons
Hit-and-run resulting in death
Compelling prostitution involving a minor or by force
Tampering with evidence involving a human corpse or evidence related to a criminal homicide

Sexual assault cases also carry no time limit when DNA evidence has been collected but not yet tested, or has been tested and does not match any identified person. The same is true when there is probable cause to believe the defendant committed the same or a similar sex offense against five or more victims.

Ten Years

Ten-year offenses include theft by a fiduciary, theft by a public servant of government property, forgery, injury to a child or an elderly or disabled person, sexual performance by a child, and arson.²

Seven Years

Misapplication of fiduciary property, money laundering, and credit or debit card abuse each carry a seven-year window.²

Five Years

Theft, robbery, burglary, and kidnapping all fall in the five-year tier, along with other felonies specifically listed in the statute at that length.²

Three Years (Default for Felonies)

Any felony not specifically listed elsewhere must be indicted within three years of the date the offense was committed.²

Misdemeanors

Class A, Class B, and Class C misdemeanors carry a two-year limitation period. Two offenses get three years: misdemeanor assault involving a family member, household member, or dating partner, and failure to report child abuse or neglect when punishable as a Class A misdemeanor.⁴ For the child abuse reporting offense, the three years run from the date the offense is discovered, not the date it happened.

Attempt, Conspiracy, Solicitation, and Aggravated Versions

If you are charged with attempting, conspiring, or soliciting someone to commit a crime, the limitation period matches the underlying offense. Conspiracy to commit robbery, for example, carries the same five-year window as robbery. The same rule applies to any offense with “aggravated” in its title.⁵

When the Clock Starts

For most offenses, the limitation period begins on the date the crime was committed. Both that date and the date the indictment is presented are excluded from the calculation, so you get the full number of years between the two events.

Crimes against children work differently. For many of these offenses, the limitation period does not begin until the victim turns 18. An offense committed against a 10-year-old could still be prosecuted years into that person’s adulthood, depending on the applicable tier. And for offenses like failure to report child abuse, the clock starts when the crime is discovered rather than when it occurred.⁴

What Pauses the Clock

Certain events stop the limitation period from running, a concept called tolling. Two situations account for most of the tolling that happens in real cases.

First, any time you spend outside Texas does not count toward the limitation period.⁶ If a five-year felony was committed and you lived in another state for two of those years, the state effectively has seven calendar years from the offense date to bring charges. This exists to keep people from running out the clock by moving away.

Second, the limitation period pauses whenever an indictment, information, or complaint is pending in a court. That pause begins when the charging document is filed and lasts until it is set aside, dismissed, or abandoned.⁶ The practical effect: charges dismissed on a technicality can often be re-filed because the clock was frozen while the case was alive. Prosecutors use this routinely when an indictment has a defect. Dismiss, fix it, re-file within whatever time is left.

What Happens When Time Runs Out

If the statute of limitations expires before the state presents an indictment, prosecution is permanently barred. The defendant or their attorney raises the issue by filing a motion to dismiss, and the court must grant it if the time has passed. Unlike a dismissal under the 180-day rule, an expired statute of limitations cannot be cured by re-filing. The case is over for good.

One narrow point worth knowing. The legislature can extend a statute of limitations and apply the new deadline to offenses where the old deadline has not yet expired. It cannot revive a case where the prior period already ran out before the new law took effect; that would violate the constitutional prohibition on ex post facto laws. If your limitation period expired under the old law, a later extension does not reach back to reopen the case.

1
State of Texas. Texas Code of Criminal Procedure CRIM P Art. 32.01
2
State of Texas. Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 12.01 – Felonies
3
State of Texas. Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 28.061 – Discharge From Offense
4
State of Texas. Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 12.02 – Misdemeanors
5
State of Texas. Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 12.03 – Aggravated Offenses, Attempt, Conspiracy, Solicitation, Organized Criminal Activity
6
State of Texas. Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 12.05 – Absence From State and Time of Pendency of Indictment, Etc.